Jane

Has anyone had this experience? We just purchased a trip to London using Go-Today for travel in March. Go-Today said to contact the airline directly for seat assignments. We called United and they will not give us any seating assignments until the day of departure. I understand we purchased the airfare at a discounted rate (which I do quite frequently on the internet without any seating arrangement problems with other airlines), we are not asking for special seating arrangements, we only want to be seated together. With United on the downslide, you would think they would be a little more customer friendly.

Betsy

Jane, can't help you with Go-Today vs. United policy, but I've found that if I have difficulty getting what I need from an airline, I just phone right back and talk with another agent. This often works. Also, you could politely ask to speak to a supervisor.

James

Actually, you probably paid more than the going rate for the airfare, based on what I've seen of go-today. So maybe United will upgrade you instead!

Karen

Hi Jane,<BR><BR>I bought the go-today London package deal and was assigned to Delta. The tickets arrived without seat assingments, but when I called Delta, they had seat assignments for me. <BR><BR>Kind of strange that they would have seat assignments on Delta, but not on United.

crusty

Yes, <BR>same experience going to Paris (Air France) last Xmas. Wound up with fine seats... I had worried that we would be separated. <BR><BR>Coming back the same thing same thing, only we got bumped up to first Class... Oh la la!<BR><BR>Only trouble we had was with Delta -purchased, paid and Assigned 6 months before)- so much for assigned seating. When the Delta flight was scrubbed (snow in Atlanta) we had to spend the night in NY.<BR><BR>Go-today is fine... you get what you bargained for.<BR>

janis

This is not a Go Today issue. United never assigns (well almost never) seats to anyone on deeply discounted tickets. I have flown UA 3 times to Europe twice on Consolidator tickets and once on a full fare ticket. The only time I could get a seat assignment was on the full priced ticket. In fact, the other two times I didn't get a seat assignment even at check-in. They held me and several others until right before boarding and then gave us the last seats.<BR><BR>I assume this policy is so they have flexibility to give their best customers the best seats.<BR><BR>

judy

Jane:<BR>Eveyone's experiences are different...I am leaving for London on United at 9:30 pm this evening. Booked the trip with Go-Today.com in September. They sent me a United E-ticket, complete with seating assignments about 3 1/2 weeks before departure.. Your trip in March may be too far out in time to get an assignment now, but you should call United from time to time and eventually they will give you seats. <BR><BR>A plug here, too, for Go-Today. I am a first rate scrounge and frequent traveller to Europe and I find their prices genreally good. The prices for airfare and hotel are hard to beat. Fare to London would have to be USD 199.00 plus the usual USD 100 tax before I could match the Go-Today price that includes the 6 nights hotel. Airfares HAVE dropped a lot lately but I, like most of us, have to books trips at least 4-6 weeks before departure to give notice at work of impending vacation. (I dare not ask for vacation time and book the flight later, waiting for a fare sale to come along to get a cheaper fare, and then book the flight. Tried that once. Got a great fare UDS 99 each way to London and then got slammmed on the hotels. Worked out to about the same costs doing it myself and booking with Go-today!)<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Judy, no longer in Germany<BR> <BR>

Jane

Actually I don't have a problem with Go-Today, they've been very helpful. I'm wondering - on this flight with United, is there a possibility of being bumped if you don't have a seat assignment? Janis didn't mention being bumped, only being held to board last. Even if we did pay a deeply discounted rate, we did pay the fare that United agreed to with Go-Today. I'm fine with the fact that United gives their best seats to their best or higher paying customers. I can sit anywhere regardless of whether I'm with my traveling companions. I do think that if you have paid a fare for this particular flight you should be able to get a seat. United worked out this fare agreement with Go-Today and they should be willing to hold up their end of the deal. I think what surprised me the most about this particular trip, was the fact that last year we also went to London on a discounted trip and when I called United to get seating assignments the seats had already been assigned and it wasn't a problem at all. Makes no sense to me.

Jane

Judy,<BR>Thanks for the info regarding Go-Today. This is the first time we have used them, but I've ready many good posts regarding their service. I will keep calling United from time to time, I don't give up easily! On other posts I've had replies from travelers saying &quot;you get what you pay for&quot; so to speak, but from our departure point, roundtrip airfare to London, airport transfers, and hotel are hard to beat at $550pp. Tried to find a way to book it myself but could not beat that price. Thanks for the upbeat post from another traveler who likes a good deal!

Christina

I've been finding more airlines don't assign a large number of seats, regardless of how you bought the ticket. I bought a regular ticket RT US-London on BA and they wouldn't give me any seat assignments, either, even though I bought it a couple months in advance on their web site. I had never encountered an airline that did this before but they swore that was their normal procedure. I don't know what their rules are as to how you get a good seat because they claimed about 80 pct of seats were not assigned until check-in and yet, even though I got there pretty early and no one had hardly checked in yet, they said all the window seats were taken. So maybe they won't give window seats to regular customers who buy any sale or special fare ticket (this was a &quot;sale&quot; but not that big a discount off APEX fare). It didn't make me want to use them again. I did finally get a window seat on one of the legs by asking to be on a waiting list for one when I checked in, and they switched my seat at the gate because someone didn't show up.

KenCT

I think that it's getting harder and harder to get advance seat assignments with deeply discounted fares. I read recently that airlines are desperately trying to differentiate service at different price points.<BR><BR>So I guess those of us who pay rock bottom prices better get used to paying extra for anything besides a middle seat with no luggage in a rear row.<BR><BR>But I posed a similar question, possibly on this board, during the summer after I had bought a ticket through Hotwire which was quite literally hundreds of dollars less than anything else I had found.<BR><BR>The flight turned out to be on NorthWest, so I immediately joined their frequent flyer club and called for seat assignments. The customer service person said, and this is close to a direct quote, &quot;Sir, at that price you don't get a seat assignment, you don't get frequent flyer miles.&quot; I half suspected that I would have to ride along with the pets and the luggage. Her only suggestion was that I arrive at the airport long before the flight so I would be one of the first to check in.<BR><BR>But then I learned, on this board I believe, that certain airlines, Northwest among them, allows you to print your boarding passes within 24 hours of departure. So about 23.5 hours before I was set to leave, I did so, and got great seats.<BR><BR>Might be worth looking into.

wow

Are you people telling me that Go-Today, A Travel Agency, has better package pricing than you can find on your own? I am in shock!

Mark

To James ([email protected]): Why do assume that the people getting good flight/hotel deals through Go-Today are 'paying more than than going rate'? From my city of departure the cheapest airfare I can get is still more than I pay for the package via Go-Today. Let's just suppose most people have done the research and know a good deal when offered to them.

Mary

This post has been very interesting to me. I traveled yesterday on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Miami on a Travelocity discounted ticket and was furious when I couldn't get a seat assignment until after the plane was already boarding. I haven't flown <BR>domestically lately, but go to Europe frequently, and never ran across that &quot;seat assignment&quot; problem. Now I know!

ann

I booked the London trip with gotoday for next March. Booked it in October, got the tickets mid november - included seat assignments. I have also flown to Europe two other times on United in the past couple years and always had seat assignments ahead of time. I think once I had to call United itself to get them but I have never been told to wait until the day of travel! And I don't know anyone else who has had that experience. Years ago airlines only booked their seats 30 days before a flight so if you got your tickets way ahead that might have been the case, but in the past few years it hasn't been. GoToday certainly came through OK for me with tickets (etickets) seat assignments, hotel vouchers, minibus transfer vouchers - all for about the price of booking the tickets seperately.

Keith

Is seat assignment just a US thing? I don't recall ever getting an exact seat assignment before checking in, the nearest always being &quot;we'll do our best but can't guarantee it until you check in.&quot; This includes flights with BA, United, and several other European airlines.

sharon

I have found that even with seat assignments made on tickets purchased through the airlines, I am rarely actually given the seats selected. This has happened with US and European travel, on a variety of airlines.<BR>

Christina

United is an American carrier (re are seat assignments only US). <BR><BR>The only carrier who would not give me one for long-distance flights was BA. I have had seat assignments on LOT, Czech Air, Air Canada, and Air France to or within Europe.

lydia

I can't believe so many people are saying they have trouble with seat assignments. I have flown a minimum of one or two times a year - both within the US and to Europe for the past 20 years and have NEVER not had a seat assignment ahead of time nor has that assigned seat not been the one I actually got.

Keith

I know United is a US airline, but I'm in the UK (I didn't make that clear) and I wasn't sure if this was a service which we - for some reason - didn't get offered by airlines.